Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 06 February 2018 were agreed by the Members present and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Cllr Armytage, Cllr E Collins, Cllr G Elliott, Cllr Fethney and Cllr Tindall.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

None.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation

None.

None.

To follow

The Chairman mentioned that the action point relating to D Skinner regarding confirming that Housing intended to fill the vacancies in the Housing Cleaning Service and Supporting People remained outstanding.  Cllr Douris raised concerns that this was still ongoing and requested a date by which it would be completed.  It was agreed that this needed to be finalised before the next meeting.  MB will ensure it is reflected in the minutes and a response is sent.

Action: MB

The Chairman confirmed that J Doyle included the most up to date information regarding Member Development in the Q3 report which will be discussed today.

To follow

The Finance and Resources Q3 report was not available due to illness and other reasons, which is why there are no Finance Officers or the Portfolio Holder in attendance.  The Chairman advised that the report would be circulated and any comments or questions can be emailed to the relevant Officer. 

M Brookes presented the Q3 reports for Legal Governance and Democratic Services. 

Cllr Silwal asked if future projects should be included.  MB advised this would be reported in the next quarter information.

Cllr McLean requested that formal thanks for J Doyle and his team were recorded for the recent poll undertaken at Kings Langley.

Cllr Douris was interested in the Mount Prison election and would like to know the result of the percentage of prisoners that voted.  MB said he would confirm.

Action: MB

The Chairman was pleased with the 100% of Stage 2 complaints completed within target and queried if there was a need to review the targets.  R Smyth explained that the targets had been set the previous year and since then we have reduced the amount of time to respond.

Cllr Douris mentioned that it was good that last year there had been 21 Stage 2 complaints but only 1 this year.  R Smyth advised that the policy had been changed and the complainant needed to show clear evidence for the case to be escalated.

Cllr Adeleke questioned the settlement of one employment tribunal and how it had affected staff management.  M Brookes said that he had defended the case on behalf of the Council and management had taken on board the comments and will act differently going forward.  Cllr Adeleke asked if it would be advisable for Members to have further information.  M Brookes highlighted that the case had been settled without any blame.  It was felt prudent to settle due to the costs involved in going to court.

The Chairman asked Members to note the report.  All agreed.  M Brookes left the meeting [19:50pm].

R Smyth went through the 3^rd Quarter report for Performance, People and Innovation, apologising that the report contained the 2^nd Quarter detail and that he had circulated the correct information.

Cllr McLean enquired if the CSU telephone system has the capability to identify vulnerable residents and put them to the top of the queue.  R Smyth advised our systems could not do this at present and it would be a challenge to identify individuals to phone numbers.  Cllr Harden mentioned the residents portal and it might be possible once this is introduced.  Cllr McLean requested that it be considered in the future.

Cllr Taylor asked if a record is kept on sickness absence at Cupid Green and also the air quality in The Forum.  M Rawdon confirmed that Cupid Green was included at Sickness Scrutiny, that we do not treat people differently, but look at a range of indicators e.g. sickness over the last 5 years or the job that they do.  The HSE had done some work and the results have shown that there was an increase in sickness of an extra 2 days per FTE. 

M Rawdon said that air pollution was being considered as part of the staff engagement group and it will be escalated to CMT.  There has also been a hygiene campaign.  R Smyth advised CMT had looked at air pollution and temperatures and the B Hosier and Interserve are doing some work on that.  MR advised that sickness was broadly similar in The Forum as it was in The Civic.  R Smyth confirmed it would be kept under observation.

Cllr Adeleke enquired about staff turnover and how it was comparable with other authorities in the last two years.  Cllr Adeleke said that we had been blessed with fantastic staff and asked what the Council were doing to keep them.  Cllr Harden said that the people that were leaving have been amazing but also they were ambitious and move on after a few years. 

M Rawdon drew attention to all the work that has been going on in order to retain staff since the introduction of the People Strategy.  This included a staff recognition scheme, changes to the appraisal system, a greater emphasis on training and staff benefits like the car salary sacrifice scheme which is open to all staff and staff being able to purchase additional annual leave.  We offer a great package which isn’t always advertised.  We look at exit interviews to see why staff are leaving.  There is some concern around salaries but we are looking at other opportunities we can offer, as this would have to be a corporate decision.

Cllr Adeleke thanked M Rawdon and said that the Council is moving in the right direction.  Cllr Adeleke mentioned the possibility of creating new job titles, a better position not necessarily better pay.  M Rawdon said that we do need to be looking at all the different options and being creative.

Cllr Douris suggested that there was something of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Cllr Douris asked that the Communications Report be considered in July or September.